The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-03-05
CONSIDERATION.

CONSIDERATION.
(16-22). When Jacob awoke from his sleep,
he had sense of the Divine presence that he
had never experienced before. His mind had
been quickened and illuminated. What he
had not before conceived of he now expert
enced, that Cop was near and would appear
to him even when he was far away from his
fathers house and from the consecrated
places of his worship. He was sure that GoD
was in that place, and sense of His presence
awakened such feelings of reverence as he
may never before have felt. He was afraid,
but his fear was not fright, but reverent awe;
that fear of COP which is the beginning of
wisdom. He felt that he was in the very
dwelling place of COP, and in way that
opened to Him in heaven. ''This is none
other than the house of COP, and the gate of
heaven" he said. When be arose in the
morning, he took the stone which had been
his pillow, and consecrated it by solemn
ceremony to be memorial of the Divine
presence which he had SO Enthusiastically ex-
perienced. Consecrated stones and rude
affairs of stones were the first sanctuaries of
Divine worship. They were symbols of the
Divine presence, memorials of COPS appear
ing to His ancient servants. COP is every
where. He will specially manifest Himself
to His people in their consecrated places of
worship. The same reverence and faith that
anciently expressed itself in these rude ways,
now finds expression in the consecrated tenn
pies of worship, which we call our houses of
quickening and Divine communion, or the
city near which it occurred, "Beth-El," that
is blouse of COP. He not only consecrated
memorial of his spiritual experience and a
sanctuary of worship, but he consecrated
himself in solemn covenant with COP to His
worship and service. If JEHOVAH, who had
appeared to him, proved Himself to be COP
indeed Elohim], by fulfilling His promise
and restoring him in peace to his fathers
house, from which he was now a fugitive,
then he would accept Him as his COP and
worship Him, and devote tenth of his Cop
given wealth to the Giver, and the memorial
pillar should be His sanctuary. Or, the fact
that JEHOVAH had revealed Himself to him,
and promised to protect and bless him, may
have been the motive that prompted him to
consecrate himself and tenth of all that He
should give him to His service. "We love
Him because He first loved u.s." is the apos-
tolie declaration.
That Jacob consecrated himself to GoD,
and his mission as the heir of the faith and
hope of Abraham, explains all his subsequent
history as the distinguished patriarch of
Israel. A conservation to worship and relig-
ion develop the good that is in the soul and
restraints and corrects the evil tendencies
that may appear; while devotion to the
world and a spirit of worldly -mindedness
tend to foster the selfish and evil propensities
of our nature, and to suppress the good and
true. Habits of religious worship, devotion
to religious work, and regular systematic
giving for religious purposes, ought to char
acterize all well disposed people. The i'm
portance of these things ought to be early
enforced upon the minds and hearts of the
young. 1t is also we'll to have consecrated
place of regular worship. Wherever we are
we ought to aid in establishing such a place.
For the public good, in the interest of the
community and humanity at large, for the
sake of the Gospel of CHRIST, and for the
stability and growth of our own beloved
Church, we ought not to neglect the assem-
bling of ourselves together" even though we
may proftably worship in private and alone
Though GoD is present everywhere, He man
ifests Himself to us only when and where we
seek Him. The places where we habitualIy
turn our thoughts toward COP, and seek and
experience spiritual quickening, become spe-
cially holy places and sanctuaries of the Di-
vine presence. We come to know that GoD
is everywhere by first experiencing His pres
ence somewhere, and learning that He is with
us, though unseen, wherever we are.
For Us every place is holy in which we have
felt by experience that GoD exists, where we
have mourned over our trespasses, or have
formed good resolutions, where holy thoughts
have risen within US, or some true consola-
ton has fallen to our lot, where our vocation
has become clearer before our eyes, and faith
in our destiny has been quickened. So we do
not believe in our hearts that COP is every
where until we have found out that we can
experience bis presence in all places, and
can receive His blessing everywhere if our
heart Is rightly turned.-Dr. OOrt, "The BIZ
BILE for Learners"
The first lesson as to the Divine Presence
in the proper development of human thought
is that GoD is here. where we are After
that comes the idea of His omnipresence. In
dealing with young people, the base thought
of His Presence is not that He is far of, in
distant heaven: not that He is everywhere:
| but that he is with them,-in their company,
though unseen. After that, that He is with
other people, in other company. Everywhere
is made up of an infinite number of Here's.
| We know about Here: the process should be
| from the known to the unknown. So Jacob
was taught: so Moses developed the Hebrew
faith.-G. L. DemGrest, ID. d., Helper, Oc-
tober, 1880.